Sweet Dreams

If you're ever wondering what happens when you've been reading nothing but American Vampire and Locke and Key comics all week, this is it. This atrocity that my tablet's sketch app helped to create. It's some sort of eerie take on the Cheshire cat watching a child sleep, apparently. All I knew when starting this sketch was that I knew I wanted to create a picture with some of the tension that I enjoyed so much from these two comic series. 

Nap, anyone?

Gabriel Rodriguez, the artist behind the Locke and Key series has this tension perfected in his work, and when I asked him on Twitter what advice he had for someone who wants to learn to draw he replied with, "The only possible advice: draw a lot, all the time, as many different things as possible. And try to have as much fun as you can."

See, I told you.

If you're into comics, and especially horror, you'll want to check these two comic series out. One focuses on a vampire in the Wild West (with a back-story from Stephen King!) and one focuses on a mansion hiding dark secrets and reality-shattering keys. I'll let you guess which is which.

This sketch really brought Gabriel's advice home for me, as it most definitely isn't the best thing I've ever drawn, but it's something I had the most fun with. I can't be the only one that loves creatures lurking in the shadows and nightmares being more than figments of our imagination, can I?

If you share my love of horror, let me know! Are there any films, books, games, comic series or more that I might be missing out on?

The Cutting Edge

Another week (an actual week this time, I'm as surprised as you are!), another drawing exercise. This week's exercise is another Contour Drawing Exercise, but this time you're actually allowed to look at what you're drawing.

In that respect it felt like a more useful drawing exercise than any before it, as I was able to focus on what I was drawing. On the other hand, it was also more stressful than any before it too, because I was able to watch my awful attempt at drawing one painful line after another.

Here are some helpful tips from the article itself:

"Choose a small kitchen or office object, whatever you have handy. Pieces of fruit, and natural objects such as plants or leaves, are the easiest. Making your drawing the same size as the object is helpful when you are learning. Just pick a point on an edge of the object and continue along with your eyes, letting your hand copy the shape on the paper. If there is a strong line, such as a fold or crease across the object, draw that too. Sometimes it helps to squint your eyes so you can see the 'silhouette' of the object. This is the basic shape you are trying to capture."

The idea behind this exercise is again to focus on the outline of an object, getting your hand and eye to work together. It wasn't an especially exciting task, and one that I found as boring the subject that I chose; a pair of scissors.

The aforementioned scissors.

Almost identical, right?

When you are first overcome with the urge to learn to draw, it is probably inspired by some masterpiece in an art gallery, or, in my case, a mixture of diverse characters and environments brought to life on the screen of anime or the pages of comic books. What you don't have in mind is drawing the different objects around your desk. That, however, is the reality, and you have start small to get to a place where you can create your own worlds, which may inspire someone else in the future. That's the dream, anyway.

For now though, I'm just happy that next week's exercise seems to let me choose my own subject... I'll do my best to make it more exciting than scissors, which surely can't be that hard?

Getting Hands-y

Since this week's exercise (Drawing Blind) focused on drawing the contours of my hand - blind, may I add - it made sense to me that my Random Sketch should also feature a hand. That's just how my mind works. An eye for an eye, a hand for a hand, or something.

A few months ago, when I went to London's MCM Expo - a glorious convention full of games, films, comics and everything else that a geek like myself could enjoy - my friend bought a Japanese entertainment magazine. I had a flick through to see if there were any interesting anime films or games coming out, and stumbled across a section devoted to drawing anime. Naturally, I slowed down to read this section to see if I could pick up any tips for an aspiring 'artist'.

Here's what I found:

How to Draw Hands

"Drawing hands is tricky. They're one of the most complex parts of the human skeleton, and our expectations for hands to look accurate is second nature. Hands exhibit a wide range of poses, and some of the limitations of how they move and bend aren't always immediately apparent. If drawn correctly, however, hands can be just as impressive and impactful as the character's face!"

"The hand is made of 17 parts; 15 for the fingers, and two for the palm. The palm can be represented in two parts; the main area, and the section at the top connecting the four fingers. Each of the digits (including the thumb) has three sections. The lowest part of the thumb encroaches on a large part of the palm, and can cause the whole palm to curve. Always all of these parts when drawing the hand, even when some parts have been obscured."

 My attempt, using my tablet.

I was quite happy with how it turned out - happy enough to put it on Twitter, actually, where I may have received a tweet saying that it was good... I don't like to brag or anything though.

 Why not try drawing a hand yourself using the handy tips above? That was awful, and I'm truly sorry, but you should still give it a shot. 

Drawing Blind

This is the second exercise on the site that I found, teaching complete beginners how to draw, and it once again focuses on getting your hand to co-operate with your eye. It's called the Blind Contour Exercise.

The idea behind it, similar to the wire exercise from my Feeling Wired post, is to keep your pencil on the paper without lifting it off and follow the outline of what you're looking at (In this case, I chose my hand). You are encouraged - nay - ordered to avoid look at the paper while you're drawing, as you are meant to be letting your mind capture the outline of your chosen subject in all its detail.

It's harder than it sounds. And it sounds hard. When you can't draw while looking directly at the paper, looking in the other direction seems completely crazy, and it probably is, but I did it anyway.

My hand. My subject. My lover - just kidding...

My blind contour result. Or maybe E.T's return.

Sure, it doesn't seem like I'm learning much from this exercise, apart from how to make my own hand seem horrifying, but it must be doing something. If nothing else, it definitely got me thinking about the little details that make up something as simple as a realistic hand, such as wrinkles on the palm. 

Wrinkles. That's something, right?

I'm alive.

It happened again, didn't it? I disappeared.

I won't spend too much time chatting on about why my newbie-drawing skills haven't been gracing the pages of this blog recently, but it involves being very busy and a lack of motivation to add large volumes of sharpening pencils and erasing sketches to the end of long days.

However, I'm not one to quit, so I'm back again, to upload some more drawing exercises I've been trying and possibly a sketch from my tablet too!

I know, you're furious, and you have every right to be. I didn't write. I didn't call. You've been worried sick. Let's take a deep breath, and channel that anger into a well-sharpened HB pencil. Yes, when you've finished drawing you may drive it into my neck. Happy now? Good.

And who knows... It was only about a month until I returned this time, so maybe my absences will become shorter and shorter until I'm actually posting weekly like I want!

Face My Shame

I've always thought that tablets seemed pretty useless. Why would I want something similar to a computer/laptop when I already have a computer/laptop?

Long story short, I now have a Google Nexus 7, and this is the first thing I drew on a sketch app.

I actually don't think it's that bad, although hair was out of the question, apparently. Unfortunately I have a couple more sketches to upload and they go downhill from here. Enjoy.

Feeling Wired

The first few pointers on the website mention the kind of pencils and paper you need for different effects, such as shading or drawing darker lines, but as I'm a complete beginner - and want other complete beginners to be able to join in - I'll be using whatever pencils I find to draw on whatever paper I have lying around.

Let's begin!

The first exercise is simple. So simple, in fact, that I couldn't help but think 'What's the point?' as I was doing it. But there is a point; to get your mind and your hand working together to create what you see in front of you.

All you have to do is take a piece of wire and twist it into any sort of shape. Then, without drawing anything else around it, draw the shape of the wire on a piece of paper. That's it.

 My 'wire'. I didn't happen to be in a workshop at that second, so I used my iPod cable.

The result. A disembodied line on a piece of paper. Impressive, right?

That was pretty much it for the first exercise. 

Don't focus too much on it. Don't try to add detail. Draw.